Etisalat and Pacific Controls to Offer M2M Technology for Middle East, Africa and Asia

Etisalat Group and Pacific Controls, the leading global automation company, has announced an agreement to jointly offer unique Machine-to-Machine based (M2M Technology) Sustainable Development applications and support to clients across Etisalat's footprint. This is meant to bring environmentally beneficial, green IT to the Middle East, Africa and Asia covering fifteen countries in total.

The new agreement was signed at a press conference in Dubai by Khalifa Al Shamsi , Chief Digital Services Officer, Etisalat Group and Dilip Rahulan , Executive Chairman of Pacific Controls.

The event was organised to coincide with a visit from the President of the GSM Association (GSMA) Mobile for Development Program, Mr Lawrence Yanovitch and the program's Managing Director Chris Locke . Sougata Nandi , Chief Executive Officer at Pacific Controls, Ahmed bin Ali , Senior Vice President Corporate Communications - Etisalat Group, Abdulla Hashim , Senior Vice President Business Solutions - Etisalat UAE, Dr Shane Rooney , Vice President Machine-to-Machine, Zakarya Alashek Ag. Senior Manager/PM-Mobility Solutions and M2M and other senior management representatives were present for the signing.

"This partnership brings a unique offering that utilizes ICT to deliver sustainable development. It leverages M2M technology to deliver managed energy services and business intelligence in real time, which helps to reduce a company's carbon footprint. We are delighted to be working with Pacific Controls on such a positive goal which shows how mobile and ICT can tangibly benefit the communities in which we live, work and play," said Khalifa Al Shamsi , Chief Digital Services Officer at Etisalat Group.

He continued: "Energy consumption today is at an all-time high, leading to increased ecological and environmental pressure to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. As a leader in the telecommunications industry, Etisalat is well positioned to spearhead this initiative in alliance with Pacific Controls, leveraging technologies like M2M to effectively reduce the carbon footprint of the UAE. With this agreement, we are now also able to expand our carbon reduction efforts across our 15 markets."

Dilip Rahulan , Executive Chairman of Pacific Controls, said, "Mankind is facing unprecedented challenge of Climate Change. Pacific Controls' Enterprise City Management Platform, coupled with Etisalat's extensive mobile network coverage, has already manifested that ICT can save the climate at the speed of light. Facilities are reducing their energy costs and carbon footprint by up to 30% through the Energy Star programme that requires only a few days to implement. With real time profiling of energy consumptions, participating organizations are now able to report on their carbon footprint online."

The agreement aims to reduce the carbon footprint of companies across the Middle East, Asia and Africa, and was launched in the UAE in December 2011 as the "Emirates Energy Star".  Since its launch, the programme has eliminated more than 5,000 tons of CO2 emissions in the UAE, achieved purely through active 24X7 Monitoring and Control of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment across 50 participating facilities, constituting an overall built-up space in excess of 9 million sq. ft.

The overall goal of the Emirates Energy Star programme is to reduce the carbon emissions of the UAE by 20% by 2020. The programme combines the strength of Galaxy software platform, Global Command Control Centre, Subject Matter Experts and Mobile Network to reduce operating costs of facilities.          

Some of the additional benefits offered via the programme is creating business intelligence through data collected and analysed from thousands of devices connected across buildings.

Pacific Control Systems (PCS) provides ICT enabled managed services and converged engineering solutions for buildings and infrastructure projects globally. PCS has pioneered the technology for Smart Cities in which buildings and infrastructure are managed centrally to increase sustainability, leveraging the ICT infrastructure of telecom operators around the world.